Kentucky public library to carry video games
by John Bardinelli 
{ Apr 10th 2007 at 6:28PM }
The Campbell County Public Library in Kentucky recently announced it will carry video games alongside those paper-bound book things with words on the inside. Three local branches will house games from each of the three big systems -- Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 3. People have been requesting video games for years, a branch manager said, so the library did some research (Did they have to go to another library to do it? Zing!) and found that a large portion of their patrons (people in their early 30s) also happen to be gamers.Expect to see titles such as SpongeBob SquarePants and the Kingdom Hearts series, as well as sports games like Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007. Each branch will have a ratings board to help parents keep potentially naughty games away from their children. And don't even think about Grand Theft Auto, as the library "won't be collecting the violent games with the harsh language".
[Via GameAlmighty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
hegemonyhog @ Apr 10th 2007 6:33PM
Mmmm...scratched-ass public library games...
Aprime @ Apr 10th 2007 6:32PM
Our local libraries have been carrying PC games (not just educational ones, I got Monster Truck Madness from them) 2 years after the apparition of CD-ROM games, so this is nothing new to me.
Philip @ Apr 10th 2007 6:37PM
Orange County Library System (FL) is one of those library systems. they don't have wii or ps3 yet, but they do have 360
willie @ Apr 10th 2007 6:36PM
hey thats cool, free game rentals, i remember i worked at the library and i did that with movies like bowling for columbine back when it came out and a bunch of others
holyice7 @ Apr 10th 2007 6:38PM
Of course, the go-to question here; "They have libraries in Kentucky?!"
I really hope this comes up as ammunition in the case against the government taking over the job of rating games. If they can be classified as art, they can't be touched!
Truegod @ Apr 10th 2007 7:02PM
I don't know about currently, but back in the day my local library in Michigan use to carry games. I remember renting some terrible Terminator game for my Sega Game Gear...
Grant @ Apr 10th 2007 7:05PM
Do you hear that sound???
it was the sound of the blockbuster/hollywood video execs shrieking as they are stabbed through their icy cold black hearts.
Grant @ Apr 10th 2007 7:05PM
Do you hear that sound???
it was the sound of the blockbuster/hollywood video execs shrieking as they are stabbed through their icy cold black hearts.
imacoorobot @ Apr 10th 2007 7:13PM
So, it's alright for them to carry books depicting torture, war, and racism, but not Grand Theft Auto? Doesn't make any sense to me.
Shagittarius @ Apr 10th 2007 7:22PM
"And don't even think about Grand Theft Auto, as the library "won't be collecting the violent games with the harsh language"
Hmmmm...Does anyone else think they feel like burning a few video games?
Sleep tight ya morons!
Roger Rees @ Apr 10th 2007 7:29PM
@Shagittarius
"Hmmmm...Does anyone else think they feel like burning a few video games?"
Please explain. I don't get it.
pete @ Apr 10th 2007 7:31PM
cool beans i think,
think of the children... wont someone please think of the children!!
yeah most parents that rent movies from the library do it because its free most of the time, i think this will benefit children on the lower end of the ecomonic scale. parents that struggle month to month arent able to get their kids the hot new game, most still try, so if they can go to the libray get some books a couple of movies and a video game to boot thats great. i dont think it would affect any other social group other than the lower class, poor people, because middle and upper go to blockbuster or buy them outright. and as far as the "but they dont have gta" well thats not such a bad thing most kids, younger, dont need to play those games anyway and besides they will play them a plenty at their friends.
peace
Mary @ Apr 10th 2007 8:10PM
Park Ridge PUblic Library in IL has been doing this for 3 years now it
awlsome!
Mike @ Apr 10th 2007 7:39PM
The Rochester Hills Public Library has had video games for a few years now. The graphic novels section has also exploded in the same time frame. I think they got a geek on the appropriations staff. =P
Shagittarius @ Apr 10th 2007 7:46PM
Well Roger Rees, if that is indeed your real name, I simply meant that by refusing to stock certain games in a library due to content reasons they are practicing censorship, something a public library should never do, and they might as well be 'burning books'.
As for the Sleep tight ya morons, its a quote from The Catcher in the Rye, a book that famously featured the F-bomb and has been targeted for banning in different arenas many times.
Good day sir!
Viridium @ Apr 10th 2007 7:49PM
Those discs are going to be scratched beyond recognition after about 3 loans.
James @ Apr 10th 2007 8:11PM
Agree about both the censorship (How many books in my library have "fuck" somewhere in them? I bet you'd lose count after a thousand.) and the scratching. At my library, the DVD section is one of the most popular features -- they have tons of TV shows, plus a smattering of movies. It's gotten to where about 1 out of 3 discs I get are unreadable. I've taken to running them through DVD Shrink's analysis thingy to make sure it doesn't run into read errors halfway through...
Wasn't there an Engadget posting a while back about the Copyright Office suggesting that it's OK for libraries to break the DMCA? They could make copies of the DVDs and give those out to the 5-year-olds, and keep the originals in the back. Wouldn't that be OK?
lwelyk @ Apr 10th 2007 8:19PM
Yet they have trashy romance novels and ultra-violent horror stories...
Fozzybear @ Apr 10th 2007 8:44PM
my library has video games too...the selection isn't the most epic up-to-date thing ever, but it's still pretty solid, and most importantly: free
dsub @ Apr 10th 2007 8:49PM
a whole lotta games are about to get checked out and never returned.
Diman @ Apr 10th 2007 9:35PM
My library carries games, what's the big deal :/
Puneet @ Apr 10th 2007 11:00PM
"The Rochester Hills Public Library has had video games for a few years now. The graphic novels section has also exploded in the same time frame. I think they got a geek on the appropriations staff. =P"
Heh, I was about to post the exact same thing, kinda surprised that someone would beat me to it. =P
But anyways, yea, the Rochester Hills Public Library in Michigan totally owns. Great selection of movies (even new ones), good selection of anime/manga (I don't watch/read much but its still a great selection), and an impressive games collection (GC, PS2, XBOX, GBA, PSP, DS, PS3, 360, and Wii), and they have a lot of books too, but that doesn't really matter that much. =P
Bertie242 @ Apr 10th 2007 11:48PM
SWEET!
I live right by that library!
Wii games checkout for me!
Haha!
>_>
Patrick @ Apr 10th 2007 11:57PM
i dunno, i like to buy my games, personally it would benefit me as a teenager, but i think my communities tax allotment for the libraries is already to little, so id rather buy my games, then see my local library become a place where software is borrowed, not books. Not because i dont like videogames, but because books are a much more positive mind expanding experience.
justin duke @ Apr 11th 2007 12:49AM
I work for that newspaper. The writer is a friend of mine
Andrew Hsieh @ Apr 11th 2007 3:59AM
I'll just be laughing when they make a Fahrenheit 451-type game. ._. On second thought, that's probably off-topic. MOVING ON.
The library where I live, not unlike a bunch of the people above me, have stocked PlayStation and PC/Mac games for . . . a really long time. So not really new news for us here. :D
Rubang B @ Apr 11th 2007 4:24AM
Hahaha, Patrick said "positive mind expanding experience" and it WASN'T a joke about hallucinogens. That was awesome. And I'd play ANY game based on Fahrenheit 451, no matter which side I was on.
Scott @ Apr 11th 2007 8:34AM
Whats so special about this? my public library has been renting games for years.
I used to rent NES games, then Genesis, then i stopped going to the library b/c i was to cool for it
Roger Rees @ Apr 11th 2007 10:12AM
@Shagittarius
An individual local library can decline to put any content on its shelves. This is not censorship; you cannot demand that a library stock Playboy just because it stocks Car & Driver. A library has scarce shelf space, and it may choose to offer any given content, even (and especially) on the basis of content. The stocking of Viva Pinata and Pokemon does not require the library to also stock Halo 2 and GTA.
All the cases involving library censorship involve federal attempts to control local libraries. That is censorship. This is not.
Refusing to stock GTA is not akin to Hitler's (or anyone's) burning of books.
t_m @ Apr 11th 2007 10:13AM
this is news??? haven't all libraries done thisfor about 10 years?
though it IS weird that librarians are always happy to protest any attempts at censorship of books, but perfectly happy to censor video games.
Roger Rees @ Apr 11th 2007 10:43AM
@t_m
"though it IS weird that librarians are always happy to protest any attempts at censorship of books, but perfectly happy to censor video games."
Librarians are not always happy to protest any attempts at censorship of books. They self-censor all the time. What they protest is when the federal government tries to tell them what books (or games) they can or cannot offer. The issue isn't about censorship or not, its about self-censorship or censorship imposed by others.
Shagittarius @ Apr 11th 2007 11:55AM
Call me stupid but I think that IF shelf space is limited and that entitles the library to pick and choose titles to include they should include the best examples of video games, the true gaming achievement titles. This shouldn't be chosen by content such as language or whatever but rather the merit of the game within the medium it represents.
I would argue that GTA is a way more important title to have in your library than the multitude of kids movie tie ins that the library will no doubt choose to carry.
So what if my local library decided to go with Halequin (sp?) romance novels leaving out Dickens or Huxley or Salinger...don't you think with limited space you should be supplying the best examples of literature possible? The same should go for games.
I would like to challenge the library to do this with their choice of games...Of course they don't see games as art so they just think they are providing a blockbuster style service and as such can just throw any trash games for rent they want. Well the library needs to rethink their exclusion of certain titles based on content, and focus on providing the best examples of the gaming world.
ZJ @ Apr 11th 2007 12:55PM
@ Mike and Puneet
Hah! I was going to say the same thing, same library!
You two best not be responsible for Trauma Center: Second Opinion being checked out, because I can never find it there!
Roger Rees @ Apr 11th 2007 1:04PM
@Shagittarius
So, if I'm understanding you correctly, you want to censor what a library can and cannot stock based on what you (or anyone other than the library itself) determines to be "the best examples of video games," regardless of the library board's determination of what it determines should be provided for the community to which it belongs.
Roger Rees @ Apr 11th 2007 1:08PM
@Shagittarius
And you're saying, on the one hand, that a library should not shelve games based on some content (language), and, on the other hand, that a library should shelve games based on other content (what you refer to as "merit of the game").
So again, you are determining the content that a library should base its stocking decisions. How is this not an attempt at censorship by you of the library?
Shagittarius @ Apr 11th 2007 3:53PM
Idealy a library would have every game ever created, however since you brought up limited space I just recommended choosing the games based on their merit when you can't simply include all games. This is the merit of the games as the media they represent not based on the language or setting or violence content (unless of course that defines the merit of the game itself). I'm not suggesting the library or an individual determine which games have merit, I'm suggesting that widely recognized gaming achievements be used (I guess you could go by reviews but better to go by a group much like the one that was assembled at GDC this past year which can back up their choices with sound reasoning).
This is not cencorship of the variety suggested in the article on something as superficial as language used in games, which has nothing to do with the merit of the game itself, just on quality of the title and impact on the media and industry overall.
Lixie @ Apr 11th 2007 4:14PM
Imagine my shock, that the "po-dung" middle-of-nowhere Kentucky county that I live in has made Joystiq. I never would have expected this.
Excuse me, I must go get a library card.
Roger Rees @ Apr 11th 2007 4:15PM
@Shagittarius
I'll grant that you are not proposing censorship based on language or violent content. But you have to admit that you want to censor what a library can put on its shelves, namely, that it cannot put a game on its shelf if there is another game with more "merit," which is determined by some person or persons other than the library.
"This is not cencorship of the variety suggested in the article...." Okay, but it is censorship.
Joe @ Apr 11th 2007 4:57PM
This is nothing new, my library has been carrying PS2, PS3, Gamecube, Wii, Xbox, 360, DS, PSP, etc games for a year or so now and regularly has "game days" in the media room. I think it's a very positive thing that libraries have started carrying more then books, realising that there are multiple forms of entertainment to be made available to the public.
And at 2: all of the games are actually in pretty good shape. The library charges a sharp fine for anyone who damages games.
DA360 @ Apr 11th 2007 7:52PM
Well, not supprised. I live in Northern Kentucky (which Campbell County is part of and Northern Kentucky is more of a suburb of Cincinnati than anything) and some of the libraries here already carry some PC games and whatnot, but I am surprised they will do console games, especially if they will be free (which the PC games in my local one are). This might become pretty popular, especially with the high prices of Blockbuster.
I just hope my local library (the Kenton County library, I live near the biggest branch of it) starts to do the same as the Campbell county library.
Also, I think the games have the potential to possibly become scratched up, but at least your not paying for scratched games like you sometimes do at Blockbuster. These will more than likely be free (of course, there will be a due date and they will charge late fees).
gui7arh3ro @ Apr 12th 2007 10:12AM
WOOT! I VOLUNTEER AT THAT LIBRARY!